Python Data Persistence - Plistlib Module

The plist format is mainly used by MAC OS X. These files are basically XML documents. They store and retrieve properties of an object. Python library contains plist module, that is used to read and write 'property list' files (they usually have .plist' extension).

The plistlib module is more or less similar to other serialization libraries in the sense, it also provides dumps() and loads() functions for string representation of Python objects and load() and dump() functions for disk operation.

Following dictionary object maintains property (key) and corresponding value −

proplist = {
   "name" : "Ganesh",
   "designation":"manager",
   "dept":"accts",
   "salary" : {"basic":12000, "da":4000, "hra":800}
}

Example - Writing to plist file

In order to write these properties in a disk file, we call dump() function in plist module.

main.py

import plistlib
fileName=open('salary.plist','wb')
proplist = {
   "name" : "Ganesh",
   "designation":"manager",
   "dept":"accts",
   "salary" : {"basic":12000, "da":4000, "hra":800}
}
plistlib.dump(proplist, fileName)
fileName.close()

Example - Reading a plist file

Conversely, to read back the property values, use load() function as follows −

main.py

import plistlib
fp= open('salary.plist', 'rb')
pl = plistlib.load(fp)
print(pl)

Output

{'dept': 'accts', 'designation': 'manager', 'name': 'Ganesh', 'salary': {'basic': 12000, 'da': 4000, 'hra': 800}}